Paul@VeteransForCommonSense.org

http://www.VeteransForCommonSense.org

Dear Mr. Kaplan,

Your essay was forwarded to me. 

You might want to know that two factors are often overlooked when the military spins the recruiting statistics.

First, the Reserve and National Guard have deployed more than 500,000 troops to the two war zones.  This count reflects the shortage of recruits.  If the military had recruited the number of troops it needed to fight wars, then it would not have been required to abuse the Reserve and National Guard.

Second, the military has deployed 800,000 (40 percent of the two million total) to the war zones twice or more. 

During the Vietnam War, the requirement was a single tour, and then the service member was released.  Now, the military endlessly redeploys and "churns" our military.  The number of repeat deployments reflects a shortage of recruits.

Furthermore, repeated deployment increases the risk of PTSD, and thus suicide, by 50 percent.   That’s why we keep seeing record numbers of suicides each year, as shown in this brand new article.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/index.php/veterans-category-articles/1489-yana-kunichoff [www.veteransforcommonsense.org] 

Best, Paul.

Paul Sullivan
Executive Director
Veterans for Common Sense
Post Office Box 77304
Washington, DC 20013
(202) 558-4553

Paul@VeteransForCommonSense.org

http://www.VeteransForCommonSense.org

VT Editorial Comment:

Paul Sullivan mentions that "During the Vietnam War, the requirement was a single tour, and then the service member was released."

Not meaning to put words in Paul’s mouth, but that statement needs clarification. What he says about a single tour is mostly based on the fact that the vast number of troops sent to Vietnam were draftees who were only obligated to two year active duty commitments. Thus throw in basic training for indoctrination, and advanced infantry training for Bravo MOSs eats up about a year leaving a recruit with about a one year commitment remaining. The use of Stop Loss and recalling the IRR was unheard of during Vietnam due to having adequate replacements from THE DRAFT, plus refusal of governors to releast THEIR Guard members for a foreign war. The Guard was required to maintain domestic social stability and failed to.

Bottom line is that the vast difference between what multiple tours there were to Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan is that Vietnam Vets were given the option to VOLUNTEER to return to Vietnam. We at Veterans Today do not know of one case where a Vietnam Vet had been INVOLUNTARILY sent back to Vietnam.

That is not the case with Iraq and Afghanistan, the excuse is that deployment rotations are built into the All Volunteer Force, and the recruits sign up (VOLUNTEER) for eight year commitments (not two as draftees did). Included in that commitment is the understanding (if comprehended or not) that units (not individuals) are placed on multiple deployments in order to avoid asking Congress and the Commander-In-Chief to implement the Draft which would in effect not only create more social instability but possibly limit the number of deployments DOD can send troops on.

In a nutshell, muliltiple deployments with very little R&R in between is INVOLUNTARY regardless if troops volunteer to endure back to back tours or not. Another vast difference from Vietnam is the use of Stop Loss and recall of the IRR. Not sure but there may have been the use of Stop Loss on such a limited basis to not draw public attention, but given the nature of the National Guard and Reserves during Vietnam (their emphasis on stateside social instability) we cannot recall one, not one, incident of an Individual Ready Researve member being recalled and sent involuntarily back to Vietnam for combat.

More to the point TODAY, when President Barrack Obama came to office his Defense Secretary left over from the Bush Administration admitted that both the use of Stop Loss and involuntarily sending Guard and Reserve members back into combat who felt their combat commitment was over (recall of the IRR) was WRONG.

Secretary Bob Gates promised that the use and abuse of Stop Loss and Recall of the IRR would cease, and given the call for more troops in Afghanistan combined with the Army fixing recruitment numbers by lowering overall quotas, it is up to us, Military Families, Veterans, and even active duty troops to ensure that both Secretary Gates and President Obama keep Gate’s promise.

It is up to us to ensure that Senators like the Honorable Senator from Virginia Jim Webb be just as passionately for adequate dwell time (R&R) for our troops now as they were when it was Bush and the Republican’s War(s).

If Secretary Gates and President Obama continue to use both Stop Loss and Recall of the IRR after condemning it’s use by the Bush administration the collective we, Military Families, Veterans, and of course troops, especially in Jim Webb’s homestate of Virginia must expect the Senator to once again put on his Desert Boots. 

ROBERT L. HANAFIN

Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired

Veterans Today News Network